Oscar 2014 host: Seth MacFarlane says he's too busy

FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2013 file photo, host Seth MacFarlane speaks onstage during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. MacFarlane is too busy to host the Oscars in 2014. He announced the news on Twitter Monday, May 20, 2013. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

"Traumatized critics exhale: I'm unable to do the Oscars again," Seth MacFarlane tweeted Monday afternoon, ending speculation that he would be back after producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan were asked to return for a second round.

"Tried to make it work schedule-wise, but I need sleep," explained MacFarlane, who landed a new Fox comedy, "Dads," and is working on a western and a "Ted" feature-film sequel.

For the most part, TV critics hated February's Academy Awards, in which MacFarlane delivered that for which he's best known: cheap shots that leave young guys howling with laughter. Critics seemed to most hate his "We Saw Your Boobs" production number -- though his crack about John Wilkes Booth being the only actor who really got inside President Lincoln's head ran a close second.

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MacFarlane is credited with boosting the Oscars' audience, year to year, by 34 percent among 18- to 34-year-old guys -- the bedazzled unicorns of the ad world. His audience was nearly 21 million viewers bigger than hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler got at this year's Golden Globe Awards.

In Monday's tweet, MacFarlane suggested that Joaquin Phoenix should host the next Oscars.

That's a switch. MacFarlane has twice predicted Fey and Poehler would land the gig.